


oh champion! (what would we do without you?)

by thesunthatshines



Series: dteam au's [1]
Category: Video Blogging RPF
Genre: Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, Big brother Dream, Childhood Friends, Everyone loves Dream, F/F, F/M, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Harry Potter AU, I'll add tags as I go??, M/M, Multi, Protectiveness, because i love dream, dream has an angsty backstory, dream is in all four houses bc i said so and bc i couldnt decide
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-11-08
Updated: 2021-02-06
Packaged: 2021-03-08 18:00:55
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 7
Words: 16,927
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27450889
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thesunthatshines/pseuds/thesunthatshines
Summary: They all waited for bated breath as another slip of paper came out.That wasn’t supposed to happen, he thought with a strange sense of foreboding. He watched with the fear growing in his chest as McGonagall snatched the paper out of the air.“The next champion,” He hears her voice shake and he can feel his heart jump in his throat as she makes eye contact with him.“is Dream.”
Series: dteam au's [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2005630
Comments: 93
Kudos: 427





	1. Chapter 1

Dream sat down heavily on the train seat. Sapnap sat in front of him, and George next to him. They were a bit early for the ride, so Dream sat there glaring at his two best friends who were both wearing shit-eating grins.

“Dream-”

“No.”

“We already said-”

“No.”

Sapnap giggled, George, following straight after. Dream rolled his eyes, looking up at the door as it opened. Wilbur entered, Tommy and Tubbo following behind him. Wilbur eyed him before going to sit next to him, glancing at the two still giggling. 

“What have you done, you two?” He finally asked after the two second years sat down in the seats next to them.

“Well-” Sapnap cut himself off, laughing before he forced himself to continue. “George and Dream were sleeping over at my house right, and we went to sleep really late and Dream fell asleep between us, right? So we wake up before him, and so we try waking him up but he’s such a heavy sleepover-“ at this, Wilbur nodded his head in agreement, letting out a grunt when Dream elbowed him. “so we pour water on him and he shoots up and he starts hissing like an angry cat!” Sapnap says, bending over from laughing. 

They all try to stop laughing, but one look at Dream grumbling in the corner, his glare on them undoing all their progress and making them giggle again.

And when Eret and Fundy and everyone else come into the cart and Dream is still pouting, yet cuddling into Wilbur’s side? They say nothing but roll their eyes fondly. 

The train does eventually get going, taking them to Hogwarts. They have to sit through the boring process of the sorting ceremony, all while munching on the food in front of them. In a rare occasion, with all of them sitting next to each other - they choose to sit at the Hufflepuff table, simply because they were always welcomed there (and because the Hufflepuffs had the best food). 

They cheer at times but the feast is mostly spent eating and catching up with each other. 

“I’m gonna be sleeping at my Hufflepuff dorm tonight,” Dream says, as they’re directed out the hall. 

“Dreamyyyy, why don’t you sleep in the Slytherin dorm today?” Wilbur whines. “I haven’t seen you in so long, and you’re not even gonna be sleeping with me in the dorm?!” He groans dramatically, hanging off the boy. 

“Wilbur, you are an embarrassment to the Slytherin house,” Technoblade says, sighing at his brother. They all watch as Wilbur’s dragged off by a housemate - moaning all the while.

Tubbo skips up to their older brother (figure) and tugs on Dreams’ sleeve. They bid goodnight to everyone, and walk with everyone else. They say goodbye to Niki in the dorm when she goes the other way to the girl dorms and make their way to their own dorm where they see their trunks at their own beds.

When Tommy and Tubbo first started at Hogwarts, they were already best friends - with Tubbo living right next to Sapnap’s house and Tommy’s family coming over to visit Sapnap’s family. Of course, Tubbo was close with Sapnap and Dream, having known them since they were born. It was a reason why their group was so close, most of them have known each other since childhood.

So when they did start Hogwarts, it was heavily suggested by their families that the two boys were to room with their brothers, and for Alexis to be able to room with Technoblade or Skeppy.  _ Heavily suggested. _

And in a way, Tubbo really did admire Dream. For as long as they could remember, the older boy was always there for him. He was there when they took their first steps, when they got their first broom.

The dorm is loud, as it always is and he can hear Fundy and Eret singing a song together from opposite ends of the room, Bad humming to himself and Dream getting ready for bed on his left.

The night winds down and they all fall asleep easy, exhausted from the day back.

  
  
  


_ Everywhere he looks is dark and silent, a feeling of misery hanging around him. _

_ “Dream,” A voice whispers to him and he turns around.  _

_ No ones there. _

_ “The chosen one,” Someone hisses in his ear and he startles, whipping his head around.  _

_ “Who’s there?!” He questions into the void. “Reveal yourself! I’m not scared of you!” He screams out _

_ “Not yet you aren’t,” is the last thing that’s whispered in his ears. _

_ “Wait!” He calls out desperately. “Wait! What do you mean?!” _

_ “Dream,” _

_ “Dream,” _

_ “Where are you?!” He screams out. _

“Dream!” He startles, sitting upright. The dorm’s being lit up with the sun and he can already hear the hustle of the common room. 

“Dream, you okay?” He hears Eret’s voice amid the white noise in his head. He gulps and blinks his eyes.

“Yeah,” He breathes out. When Eret doesn’t look too convinced, he tries for a smile. “Yeah, no I swear,” He sighs, rubbing his eyes. “Just a bad dream,” he smiles wider at Eret. 

“If you say so man,” The British said before standing and ruffling Dream’s hair. “Hurry up, you don’t want to take too long and have Sapnap or Will throwing a fit because you took too long,” Dream laughs at the older man’s word. 

He busies himself up by getting ready for the day. He freshens up but he can’t help but frown at his pale complexion, further bringing out the dark circles under his eyes. He puts on his robes for the day - McGonagall gave him specific robes that change colour throughout the day based on his wishes. 

He heads out with Eret, Fundy and Bad, finding out that Tubbo and Niki had gone ahead. As they enter the hall, they can already see the catastrophe that is their group. They all collectively sigh, seeing Tommy argue with Sapnap and George, Wilbur bringing his guitar and singing a song, Fundy egging Tommy on. 

“Morning everyone,” Bad says before sitting down next to Bad, Eret and Fundy going to Niki and Tubbo. Dream settles in next to Techno, who’s still half asleep next to Wilbur. In front of them is the arguing trio.

“Hi Techno,” Dream greets, the man letting out a muffled sound that sounds vaguely like “Good morning” to his ears. 

“Why do we always have fucking potions first on the first day back?” Wilbur asks their little group. With him, Dream, George, Sapnap, Fundy and Karl being on the same timetable and year, he feels justified complaining. Techno was in the seventh year but he was his brother - he had to put up with him either way.

“Shut up Wilbur, at least you don’t have Snape breathing down your fucking neck just because you’re not in Slytherin,” George snorts, huffing. Tommy huffs indignantly and leaves to go talk to Tubbo. 

“I hate potions,” Dream grumbles, crossing his arms. He shivers, remembering his first year and Snape’s instant distaste for him. The distaste in his voice as he reads his last name. Him being in Slytherin didn’t help his case at all, being in the other houses cancelled out.

“You’re good at potions though,” Wilbur argues.

“So? What’s good is that if the teacher hates you?” He asks and a positive murmur goes ripples through the group. 

  
  
  


In their first class, Snape tells them that they’re researching antidote potions before immediately going on teaching. They all scramble to write down what he’s writing on the board and what he’s saying. 

In their second period of Charms, George and he are passing notes.

‘Dream’

‘yes george’

‘eret told me you weren’t looking too good this morning’

Dream sighs and bites his lip. He glances up to make sure Professor Flitwick is still occupied with the chaos that is Sapnap and Wilbur together and quickly writes a message back.

‘eret is also a snitch:(‘

He hears George sign and feels him roll his eyes, and chuckles at the image. 

‘talk to me later’

He gulps when he reads this, tempted to turn around to where George is sitting with Fundy and shake his head no. 

By the end of that lesson, he’s ready to fall asleep, already exhausted from his first two periods. They exit out of Flitwick’s classroom like zombies and all herd to the hall. They drop down to the nearest table, Ravenclaw. 

10 minutes in and 2 coffee’s later, Dream is a bit more awake again. He stands up to get another cup of coffee and announces it to his friends.

“I’ll come with you!” George says, already standing and pulling him to get coffee. 

“Alright, spill,” George whispers to him as they both get a cup of coffee. 

“George I swear, it’s nothing,” he says, watching the way his hand's trembles as he pours himself a coffee. 

“Bullshit, come on Dream,” George scoffs.

“It’s nothing, just a small nightmare. That’s it,” He says truthfully, looking at George. He locks eyes with him and hopes the other boy can feel his sincerity.

“Alright, you’re off the hook for this one,” He rolls his eyes at Dream and can feel the taller boy’s grin as they start walking back to their table.

“Did you guys hear that McGonagall had something to announce? Technoblade knows what it is but won’t tell me,” Wilbur says as they get back to their table. 

“So no one knows what it’s about?” Dream questions as he settles back into his place next to Sapnap. 

“No one in our grades or the grades below us, that’s for sure,” Sapnap replies, sighing and crossing his arms. “Otherwise, Tommy would be boasting about how he knew about it and we didn’t,” Snickers go around the table, agreeing with the ebony-haired man.

  
  


By the time dinner rolls around, they’re hungry and practically salivating because of the pork chops in front of them.

“Students, before you eat, I have an announcement,” McGonagall’s voice cuts through the chatter. Dream internally groans, he just wants to  _ eat  _ and then sleep for 36 hours. (Is that a coma?). “This year, students from Beauxbatons and Durmstrang will be at Hogwarts,” A sudden murmur started through the crowd, and McGonagall starts again, “This is because of the Triwizard competition, that we are holding at our school this year,”. Excitement rose through the student body, everyone erupting into excited chatter.

“I wanna try!” Sapnap exclaimed excitedly, Technoblade nodding next to him, a fire in his eyes.

“A strict reminder, that only seven-year students and above are allowed to participate. If anyone gets caught trying to cheat - the punishment will be severe,” Sapnap winced and Dream had to laugh at the look of triumph on Technoblade’s face. He watches as Sapnap sticks out a middle finger to Technoblade.

Just in time, music started out and students streamed in from the big door of the hall. Women came in gracefully, dressed to the nines. Eyes watchful, yet they’re filled with cat like grace, gratefulness oozing out of every move. They twirled to the music and their performance was met with applause and whistles. 

“I’m guessing that’s Beauxbatons,” George says to Dream, raising an eyebrow when one of the girls wink at him. Dream hides his amusement by nudging George and sitting closer to him. It’s no secret to anyone in Hogwarts that George isn’t interested in girls.

Suddenly, the door opens again, and men stream out of it, marching with a stick and a chant. All of them marched through the pathways of the hall, faces form and muscles bulging. 

It’s no secret to anyone in Hogwarts that George is more interested in boys. It’s also no secret that Dream likes both boys and girls. 

So it’s no surprise to any of them when they see George and Dream eyeing the muscles and the veiny hands. The headmasters are introduced to them, a tall woman (very tall actually, she’s quite scary) and an intimidating, quite short man. 

The feast goes on. 


	2. Chapter 2

When he wakes up the next morning in the gryffindor dorm with another body pressed up against his, he can’t say he isn’t surprised. The black hair is the identifier and the body is familiar to him. 

With him and Sapnap growing up together as best friends, they were always together and with Dream having experienced what he did - it was often that he had nightmares when he was younger. Because of this, Sapnap’s parents would often find Sapnap in Dream’s bed, the two boys finding comfort in each other. 

And given that the sun hasn’t even risen yet and the dorm hasn’t been bathed in golden light yet, he creeps closer into Sapnap’s arms and falls back asleep.

  
  


When the sun  _ is  _ shining through the windows, he sits up with bleary eyes and hair ruffled. He can hear Tommy stirring up shit in the common room, the swears coming out of the boys mouth loud and clear. He rolls off of the bed and just...kind of  _ sits there _ sitting at nothing until someone passes by him and backtracks. 

“Dream, my man,” he hears the person say. “You good?” He nods absentmindedly before finally looking up, seeing Skeppy halfway dressed. 

“It is so early,” he yawns, making grabby hands at Karl. Said person rolls his eyes but still does it anyways before walking away to go tie his tie. Dream stretches before turning back to look at Sapnap. 

“Sap, wake up,” he huffs, shaking the man. When the man doesn’t even move, he huffs before pushing him off the bed. He hears a startled yelp before Sapnap’s leaping up, and there’s a split second where their eyes lock before Dream finds himself getting tackled by his friend.

They wrestle around the floor, Dream laughing, wheezes coming out. Sapnap’s yelling, saying something about how good his dream was, pinning him down every other word. Dream can barely pin him down either, the giggles escaping his mouth every second.

Sapnap finally tires out after a few minutes, sagging on top of Dream.

“You are such a bitch,” Sapnap says, standing up and helping Dream up. They proceed to get ready together, hurrying up in between the laughs when they hear Tommy complaining about wanting to eat.

They walk to the hall together, listening to Tommy talk about the Triwizard competition and how he would win so easily if he was in it. They nod along, letting him talk.

“..and I just  _ know _ that if they let me put my name in the fire, the goblet would choose  _ me!” _ Dream stifles a laugh at the offense in the boy's voice. 

“Not gonna lie, I want to join too,” Sapnap puts in helpfully, sighing forlornly at the missed opportunity. 

Dream sighs at the both of them, “it’s a death tournament! Why would you want to participate in that?” He asks them with disbelief evident in his voice. 

“Says the one who likes playing manhunt like a  _ psychopath _ ,” Sapnap scoffs at him just as they reach the Gryffindor table. They sit down, the only people there are George, Technoblade and Wilbur - all three of them the earliest risers of the group. Everyone else is scattered around the hall. 

Dream gasps, faking a hurt look on his face. “ _ How could you?!”  _ He exclaims with a gasp. “Manhunts are  _ blessed _ ,” Dream huffs. 

“Yeah, to you and probably Technoblade,” Wilbur speaks out. “You both are ruthless when it comes to manhunt or quidditch,” 

“What if both me and Techno teamed up for Manhunt?” Dream mused out loud. A moment passes before Sapnap, George and Wilbur consecutively cry out a negative. 

Manhunt was an event that happened every month - organised by the professors. They like to say that it’s for house unity and for the houses to strengthen their relationships with each other but Dream thinks it’s because it’s the one time a month they can support violence. 

Essentially, Manhunt was a game where someone has to ‘speedrun’ tasks. The professors magic up an infinite map in the quidditch arena. There are structures like sand temples in the desert, where you can get stuff like armour or things that you can spell to make swords, axes and shields. The final goal is to get into the End - another biome like the desert, grass biome etc - and to defeat the dragon.

The ‘Dream Team’ was a popular team that always participated in the event. Dream was usually the one running, everyone else hunting him. He was proud to say that he’s won 13 games out of 24 - he currently held the best record in the school.

“I think the day that you and Technoblade team up for Manhunt, is the day everyone just,” George pauses before continuing, “dies,” he says. 

“Both of you are psychopaths,” Sapnap scoffs, looking terrified at the idea of the two teaming together.

“I like the idea,” Technoblade says out loud.

“Of course you do! It’s a chance for you to fight someone,” Wilbur muttered and the table burst out into laughter when Technoblade just refuted it with, “Only for you,”. 

Wilbur looks terrified.

  
  
  
  


The day passes by slowly and nothing exciting happens - which is good, it’s great actually. Dream’s had enough exciting things in his life for now. 

The dinner that night is thrilling however. All throughout the day, the seventh years had been putting in their names into the goblet at the front of the hall. There was a small bit where Sapnap and Tommy had teamed up and tried to put both their names in the goblet. Technoblade had watched them before just walking in and putting his name in.

The looks on Tommy and Sapnap’s face were priceless. What was even funnier was the moment where they started begging Technoblade to put their names in

As they all settle down to eat, McGonagall rises and clears her throat. The hall falls silent and they all watch her.

“On this night,” She pauses for dramatic effect, “We will choose the champion!” A roar of applause greets her, everyone excited at the prospect of something entertaining in the otherwise mundane days of Hogwarts.

She steps down and next to where the goblet is, the blue flame rising - as if it was responding to her. The fire glows red and a slip of paper comes out. McGonagall grabs at it and quickly reads it. 

“The Durmstrang champion is…” Dream would be lying if he said he wasn’t on the edge of his right now. “Jschlatt!” She announces.

He sees Wilbur perk up from his seat and can’t blame him. His family and Sapnap’s family had known Schlatt’s since they were young - having been three pureblood families.

They watch as Schlatt stands up, a cocky smirk on his face as he’s cheered on. He makes his way to the front and stands tall, an imposing figure. He’s dressed in a royal red, making him stand out against the hall’s golden nature. 

Another name comes out. 

“The  Beauxbatons champion is… Alyssa!” 

They hear a roar of approval from the Ravenclaw table where the Beauxbatons girls are. A girl with long blonde hair that’s borderline silver rises up. She exudes gratefulness in every step she takes. She makes her way to the front as well and stands next to Schlatt.

“Now, the Hogwarts champion,” All four houses watch anxiously as a name slips out. “Technoblade!”

Dream doesn’t remember standing up but he does remember tackling Technoblade across the table. The man doesn’t even look surprised but he does look arrogant - Dream can’t fault him on that of course. He just beat everyone else. The goblet chose  _ him. _

The applause is deafening as they all watch him walk up to the front. His ravenclaw robes billowing behind him. Dream sees the grin on both Alyssa and Schlatt’s faces and he watches as Schlatt claps a hand on Technoblade’s back. 

The fire grows and falls, as if it was angry. It seemed hungry, but hungry for  _ what?  _

He had a bad feeling in his stomach.

The fire seems violent, rising and falling every second. It was blazing, growing in size yet now one seemed to notice. The applause grew still. The fire glowed red, then blue and kept that pattern. 

“These,” McGonagall exclaims with a smile in her voice. “These are the champions of the triwizard tournament!” The hall explodes into applause but Dream stares at the fire as it glows a final red. 

It stays on the red colour and McGonagall stares at it with furrowed eyebrows.

They all waited for baited breath as another slip of paper came out. 

That wasn’t supposed to happen, he thought with a strange sense of foreboding. He watched with the fear growing in his chest as McGonagall snatched the paper out of the air.

“The next champion,” He hears her voice shake and he can feel his heart jump in his throat as she makes eye contact with him, “is Dream.”

What?

“What?!” Multiple voices exclaim together.

“Fuck yeah! You go Big D!” He hears from the Gryffindor table.

He stands up, confusion on his face. “That’s not possible,” He exclaims into the silence of the great hall. “I never registered!” He says vehemently. 

“Dream,” The headmistress says slowly. “Are you willing to drink veritaserum?” She questions, pity in her eyes. Snape approaches from behind - holding Veritaserum (does he just carry that around?”

He nods frantically, and she gestures him towards the front. He sends a panicked glance to his friends and notes with a sinking glance that Sapnap isn’t looking at him. And neither is George. Or Wilbur. In fact none of his friends are looking at him, except for Bad, who’s looking at him in worry, and Tommy and Tubbo who are looking way too excited.

Fuck.

He hurries towards McGonagall and downs the serum. He stands straight even when he can feel hundreds of eyes pierce through him.

“Dream, I’ll just ask a few questions to make sure the serum is in effect okay?” He nods.

“How old are you?”

“14 turning 15.”

“What is the name of the person who killed your parents?”

“End,” He whispers, a flashback of her mother’s screams playing in his mind.

“Okay Dream, I’ll now ask you the questions okay?” He nods.

“Did you put your name in the Goblet?”

“No.”

“Did you ask an older student to do it for you?” 

“No.”

“And you’re absolutely sure?”

“Yes.”

McGonagall looks vaguely troubled. She turns back to the students.

“Unfortunately, the rules are absolute. When your name comes out the goblet - it’s a binding magical contract. Dream has no choice because as of tonight,” He watches her gulp and feels fear in his heart. “He is now a triwizard champion,” 

“But I don’t want to be!” He exclaims. All heads snap towards him. “Can’t someone else take my spot? I never registered my name for this!” He rants desperately and sees the pity in her eyes. 

“Unfortunately not,” She says with sympathy. 

He sighs shakily and makes his way to the back. His heart thunders in his chest and he can feel the magic in his blood - just begging to be let out. He slams the door of the Hall close.

It’s deathly silent inside.

  
  
  
  


He’s found in the quidditch arena, around 11pm. He had been letting his magic out - letting it explode in bursts of anger and frustration. 

“Hey Big D!” He hears a voice from behind him and instantly knows who it is. The accent’s a dead giveaway as well.

“Tommy, Tubbo, what are you doing here?” He asks, not turning their way. The quidditch arena is partly destroyed. 

“We’re here for you!” Tubbo says, sitting next to him. Tommy sits on Dream’s otherside. 

“Everyone’s looking for you, you know?” Tommy asks him. “A few minutes after you walked out, they grouped out and went to look for you.”

He remembers their avoidance. The way they couldn’t look at him in the eyes - the looks of slight anger in their eyes as he was at the front.

He scoffs.

_ Yeah right. _

“I’m serious Big Man!” Tommy exclaims. 

“Tommy, they couldn’t even look at me. They’re  _ angry  _ at me for something I couldn’t even control,” His voice cracks at the end.

Let it be known that while he was ruthless, merciless and had incredible speed and strength, he was also exceptionally emotional and soft hearted. While he stunned his friends mercilly during manhunts and won games without mercy for the other team in quidditch -- he also liked hugs, and affection, and having movie nights with his friends and cuddling with his cats. He liked being kind to others, he cried over The notebook. The one he couldn’t spend Christmas with Sapnao and his friends, he sent a lengthy letter and cried when Sapnap sent one back.

He was soft hearted. 

Both boys on either side of him knew this, and they weren’t surprised when the older boys started crying. He was overwhelmed and they understoof that.

“None of them are really  _ that much  _ angry at you,” Tubbo explains.

“Yeah! It’s just like Sapnap. And Technoblade.”

“I think Schlatt is too...and Wilbur.” Tubbo adds helpfully.

“Oh, and George,” Tommy finishes.

He laughs, sad and dejected. “Thanks,”

The two wince, rethinking what they had just said. 

“You guys head back now, your prefects are probably looking for you guys,” He sighs, suddenly exhausted. “I’ll head back after you,” He says to placate them. 

The two share a look before giving in and leaving.

He stares at the sky, feeling his magic cry out. His magic relied on his feelings most of the time - him of course being an obviously emotional person. He was weak and sad and dejected, feeling tired and like he just wanted to give up. 

His magic cried out.

No one answered it.


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Gryffindor - Sapnap, Skeppy, Tommy  
> Ravenclaw - Technoblade, George,  
> Slytherin - Wilbur, Purpled (will make an appearance in later chapters:))  
> Hufflepuff - Tubbo, Karl, Bad, Eret, Fundy, Niki
> 
> please tell me if I've missed anyone!

He didn’t go back until it was roughly 5 am. The sun was peeking out of the edge of the world. He watched with a heavy heart as the sun rose. 

An hour until he had to wake up.

He spent 6 hours on the quidditch pitch after Tubbo and Tommy left. He couldn’t bring himself to go back to the dorms - any of them. Just the thought of even going back made him choke.

He did eventually go back to the dorm - the Hufflepuff dorm that is. He was always welcome there and he knew that Bad wasn’t angry at him and neither was Fundy or Eret, not Karl either. 

He was ready by the time they all woke up and was - essentially - questioned and scolded. 

“Dream! You muffin head where were you?!” 

“You look pale as dude, did you stay out the whole night?”

Dream squirmed away from the hands prodding at him and pouted. 

“I was at the quidditch pitch..” He trailed off as he saw himself in the mirror. God, he did look pale. The eye bags under his eyes stood out against his pale skin - too pale for his friends not to be concerned. God, he looked absolutely terrible.

“All night?” Eret questioned and he hesitantly nodded. That prompted another round of mothering before he got sick of it and disentangled himself from the mother hens.

“Guys,” he spoke seriously. “I-I swear. I didn’t put my name in there!” He pleaded with them to understand, he couldn’t bear the thought of everyone being angry at him. 

“Oh you muffin, relax!”

“No one’s angry at you man, you’re Dream!” Karl said, bouncing around him and ruffling his hair. “The whole school loves you, no way they’re gonna turn on you like they did with Harry Potter, like 1000 years ago!”

The boy’s statement makes him freeze up - remembering what the Triwizard competition entailed for the boy who lived. 

Cedric Diggory died. (Schlatt’s gone- Where’s Schlatt?! Where’s Techno?)

Voldemort came back. (Magic exuded from her form, no matter how small she looked, her hair covered her eyes as she slowly stood up. 

She was looking straight into his eyes and he couldn’t breathe.

He couldn’t breathe, she smiled slowly.

He couldn’t breathe.)

He couldn’t breathe.

The others seem to reach the same conclusion and so does Karl since he deflates quickly.

“Sorry man, I didn’t mean to make you feel bad,” Karl says regretfully, but Dream shakes his head, giving a smile to the other, ignoring the sudden catch in his breath. If he ignored it long enough, it was like the panic hidden under his skin was never there.

“It’s fine man, you didn’t mean to,” He said, slinging an arm around his shoulders. 

They do eventually make their way to the hall and as they enter, Dream’s eyes automatically go to the Ravenclaw table where George, Wilbur, Schlatt, Technoblade and Sapnap are all huddled together. He stops himself from wincing as he makes eye contact with George and the other scowls before looking away.

Ouch.

In all his years of knowing George, he had never felt so hurt by the other. Sure there was that time that he and George had argued about Dream working himself to the bone, but that was one of their rare major arguments.

“Come on, you can sit with us today,” Fundy tugs him over to the Hufflepuff table and he goes quietly, feeling the familiar exhaustion settle in his bones. He can’t bring himself to eat even a bite of the breakfast that Bad puts in front of him, instead of subjecting himself to coffee for the hour that it takes for his friends to eat their breakfast. 

His mood is down the whole day and it's painfully obvious to everyone. The day goes by in a blur - he vaguely remembers Snape snapping at him because he was zoned out. He could do nothing but stare up at his teacher blankly, not noticing the deathly silence of the classroom. 

He eventually mutters an apology to the teacher and Snape could do nothing but huff and continue teaching. 

He ignored the stares of his classmates - even his teachers. Flitwick and Sprout keep him after class to say that they support him and will be there for a shoulder to lean on.

He doesn’t need a shoulder to lean on, he needs his friends to not fucking hate him. 

So many people have come up to him throughout the day, congratulating him on being a champion, touching him without permission and asking how he did it. He wants to disagree, (he didn’t want it- why didn’t they understand that-) but he swallows the rude remarks that are sitting on the tip of his tongue (get the fuck away from me, please don’t touch me, i don’t like it, i never wanted to participate in this death tournament)

Dinner that night is spent leaning on Karl’s shoulder tiredly. He’s too tired to even eat, he’s barely eaten the whole day. He knows it’ll come back to bite him in the ass later on but he can’t bring himself to care at this very moment. 

McGonagall steps up to the front and clears her throat. He looks up at her as the noise in the hall turns silent.

Nope, not again, he thinks, wondering if he can escape from the stupid announcement. Surely they can’t fault him on that. 

“The first event of the Triwizard competition will be in a week and a half’s time,” she says out to the students who quieten. “Champions,” she says looking directly at each of them. “Champions, I suggest you get training,”

Fuck

That night, he can’t sleep as he rolls around in his bed. He can hear Karl snoring to the right of him and he smiles fondly at the boy as he gets out of bed. 

The common room is bare, so he lights the fire and revels in the warmth for a bit. He eventually makes his way to the bookshelves that line the common room. His eyes scan the bookshelves and take the books that mention any type of spells - offensive or defensive 

(Why Expelliarmus is the best offensive spells

Defensive spells and all there is to know about them

The best offensive spells to use when you aren’t fighting the Dark Lord)

He at least wants to make it out the first challenge in one piece - and hopefully, the least injured he could be. And hopefully the whole competition. 

Everyone’s heard of the tri-wizard competition of Harry Potter’s time. How both he and Cedric were sent to a different location. How two went in and only one came out with a corpse.

Opening the first book, he readies himself for a long night.


	4. Chapter 4

  
  


The sunlight peeked through the windows of the common room. Dream winced at the sunlight assaulting his closed eyes and slowly woke up. His back hurt - but that was probably from him falling asleep on the low table of the common room. He stretched his arms out like a cat and sighed heavily as he saw his messy notes in front of him.

The messy scrawl stood out to him and he scanned through it. He sighed again as he stood, looking at the clock. He noted that it was time to be getting ready. 

He went through his morning routine in a daze, putting on his robes that automatically changed into the Hufflepuff colours. Walking to the great hall, he noted that there were barely any students walking around. Understandable, the sun had barely risen. 

As he entered the great hall, he could only see a few students milling about and he spotted Tommy, Tubbo and Purpled sitting at the Slytherin table. He hadn’t seen the other Slytherin since the holidays - where he visited the younger during Christmas.

“Purpled!” He greeted the boy and encased him in a warm hug. Arms hugged him back and  _ oh, Dream missed him _ . “Where have you been?”

Purpled sent him a confused look, “I haven’t been here,” He stated. “I was on a late vacation, I got to Hogwarts just last night and scared the living shit out of Tommy,” he snickered, sending a look at the blonde. 

Tommy huffed, “Shrieking is a natural reaction if you get pushed off your bed at 11 pm at night and a dark as fuck figure’s looming over you,” He says, giving the purple-eyed boy the middle finger.

“Punz got back just last night too, we ran into each other before he went into his dorms,” Purpled explained before his eyes shifted to the left of Dream. “He’s right there!” 

He turns and there’s Punz. The other blonde notices him almost immediately and a grin breaks out on both their faces, racing towards each other. They collide in the middle and embrace each other and he instantly melts into the embrace. He missed his friend.

They make their way to the three younger kids and sit down with them. 

“Hey man, what’s this I hear about you being in the Triwizard competition, huh? How the hell did you do that?” Punz questioned him and he shifted uneasily, his mind brought back to the problem.

“What?!” Purpled shrieked, turning to Tommy and Tubbo. “You told me everything that's happened for the past 3 days, yet you failed to tell me that Dream’s in a death competition?!” He shouted, punching both boys in the shoulder. Both let out a hurt noise and rubbed their shoulders.

“We forgot!” Tubbo defended himself weakly and Dream had to stifle a laugh at the look of offence on Purpled’s face.

“I didn’t submit myself, but it chose me anyways,” he cut in before Purpled actually jumped on the two boys. “I don’t know how it happened, but everyone’s kind of angry at me and I don’t why,” He muttered - that was another problem.

Why were they angry at him? He took  Veritaserum and they’re still angry at him? Veritaserum used on a student was looked down upon yet he still did it - why were they still angry at him? He did nothing and they haven't talked to him since that night he was chosen.

The more he thought about it, he became angrier. The anger quickly overtook the confusion, anxiety and sadness that had been plaguing his mind the past few days. Not only did he have to go through this fucking deathmatch, but he had to put up with his stupid ass friends? Who won’t even tell him why he was mad? Why did he have to deal with their scowls and their glares and their muttering? 

_ Fuck them. _

His anger must show on his face because he sees Purpled slowly inch away from him. He breathes out slowly, a frown forming in his face, “Sorry, I was just thinking about something,” 

“Would that something be called George, Sapnap, Wilbur and Technoblade?” Tommy asks him and nods to himself. “Don’t let them get to you, Big Man. They’re all dicks anyways, especially Wilbur,”

Dream scoffs, “It’s whatever, I’m sick of it,” He states and the people around him shuffle nervously at his change in voice. 

People often forget that Dream was in Slytherin - usually, his Slytherin side came out during quidditch or manhunts, any type of competition - he was just a naturally competitive person. For all of Dream’s kindness, his pettiness was always there too. 

“Anyways,” Tubbo cuts in, wanting to get Dreams mind off of his friends ( _ his stupid friends,  _ his head supplied him). “How are you doing with the first challenge?” He asks curiously, peering at the blonde.

Dream straightened up, “About that,” he started. “I need your help with something…” He trailed off. 

“What is it?” Punz asked and smiled at him encouragingly when the younger boy looked unsure.

“The first trial is most likely a duel type of thing, McGonagall said to get training - so it’s most likely combat,” He explains. “I need people to duel with, and since I can’t duel with the three people I usually duel with…” He trails off, watching understanding dawn on their faces.

“FUCK YEAH!” Tommy exploded and he felt a surprised laugh bubble out of him - he could always count on Tommy for fights. “Prepared to get your ass beat, bitch!” 

“I’ll do it! I’ll show you how much I improved Dream!” Purpled exclaims immediately, Tubbo nodding alongside him excitedly, the three younger ones immediately arguing about who got better.

“I’ll absolutely do it - and I know a lot more people who would help you with this,” Punz says, rolling his eyes at the confused look. “Fruit, Krinios, Quig, Jordan, H, a lot,” Punz lists off, watching Dream grow thoughtful, nodding to himself.

“I’ll probably ask them later, I need to practice for the first trial like desperately,” He moans sadly, and he hears Punz chuckles, getting pulled up.

“C’mon, let’s get breakfast,” He nods to the number of students that are already in the Hall. 

Dream groans, “Can you just get me a coffee? I barely slept,” Missing sleep and meals were becoming a regular occurrence now and he didn’t know how he felt about that.

“You don’t want any food? Are you not hungry?” Dream shook his head, watching him walk away to get the coffee and food. 

“Purpled, where’d you go?” He asked the younger boy, the other immediately turning to his brother figure.

“I went to visit family in Virginia, and then we went to New York!” Purpled explained excitedly, immediately going into all the things that he saw and talking about the time that he got lost in New York. Dream listened attentively - until he saw a coffee put down in front of him. Then, he divided his attention between his drink and Purpled.

“Purpled, that’s nice and all,” Tommy cut him off and Dream glanced at him, “But nothing will ever amount to being able to see  _ The Queen _ ,” He whispered her name reverently, Tubbo nodding alongside him. Dream can feel a laugh bubbling in his chest, threatening to burst out.

Purpled scoffed, crossing his arms, “You have obviously never listened to Taylor Swift,” he challenges, Punz nodding. 

“Taylor Swift is a legend, an icon,” Punz praises and nudges Dream when he slaps a hand over his mouth to stop himself from laughing

“ _ The Queen,  _ she is so much better,” Tubbo says back. “She is truly a God in this world, she will live forever, she is simply immortal!” Tubbo says, nodding to himself, satisfied and Tommy high fives him.

“Have you even ever listened to Folklore?!” Purpled exclaims, throwing his hands up. “ _ It’s a fucking masterpiece,”  _ He whispers out, looking like he’s gonna start worshipping Taylor Swift then and there. “And anyway, what the fuck does your Queen even fucking do? Isn’t she like 1000 years old?” He asks mockingly.

“The Queen doesn’t even do anything, she’s just there,” Punz adds in. 

An offended gasp comes out of the British boy's mouth and Dream can’t help it anymore. He bursts out laughing, wheezing. He clutches his stomach as wheezes come out of him. 

“Oh you fucking bitch, you are so stupid, you do not even know what you’re saying! You stupid American-” He laughs even harder at Tommy’s insult until his laughs go silent and all you can hear from him is the small wheezes coming out of his mouth. 

“What the fuck do you mean by stupid American?!”

“You know exactly what I fucking meant you dickhead-”

“I get better grades than you dipshit!”

“That is just simply not true!”

He laughs himself silly, getting himself lightheaded until he laughs himself out. He’s breathless,  _ it’s always a fun time with this group, _ he thinks. 

  
  
  


His day consists of potions for the first two lessons so he trudges to potions after breakfast with Punz. He sits next to Punz, having missed his other childhood friend. Punz’ real name was Luke, but it had been a habit to call him from Punz from when they were younger so it had stuck. 

He avoids looking at the others, saying hello to his friends from Hufflepuff but otherwise ignoring everyone else. He was done feeling like shit because of them. 

The first 30 minutes consisted of theory, but they were instructed to concoct a Calming Draught for the other hour and a half. Many of the class failed, due to it being an advanced potion. He and Punz were working together and had successfully concocted the potion, and had received a backhanded compliment from Snape. Right now, they started studying for Muggle Studies. Right now, they were learning about the ways that muggles interacted with each other when they weren’t near each other.

In the corner of his eye, he saw Snape approaching the desk that George and Sapnap were at. Their potion was a ghastly red, nothing like the blue it was supposed to be.

“Hm, Nicholas, George, I see you two have failed miserably,” Snape monotones. “I thought Ravenclaws were smart,” he sneers at George who ducks his head. “And you, Nicholas… I didn’t expect much from you anyway,” With that, he turns and walks away and Dream has to bite down the frustration. They didn’t want anything to do with him, him telling Snape off would probably not be appreciated. 

He turned his head as he saw them look at him. He continues writing down notes, ignoring their eyes burning into the side of his skull.

  
  
  


The lesson of Muggle Studies passed quickly, and soon it was lunch again. He had ran into Hbomb and Krinios on his way to muggle studies and asked if they would be free during lunch to help him duel. Hbomb had immediately said yes and Krinios had fucked with him before saying yes. 

As they made their way out of Muggle Studies, he made sure to tell Bad that he was going to the Duelling room to practice.

“Are you sure? You don’t want lunch?” Bad asked him worriedly, but he was already waving it off - waving goodbye to his friends as he walked in the direction of the duelling room.

“Dream! Ready to get your ass kicked?” Hbomb asked as soon as he entered. 

He scoffed good-naturedly, “H, remember the last time we duelled?”

“You got destroyed,” Krinios piped up and Hbomb sent him a glare. He held up his hands placatingly, a smirk on his face. “What? It’s true! He beat you, 9-1,”

“We have an hour for this - best out of six?” He offered and received two positive affirmations. He grins, slow and just a little bit bloodthirsty as he picks up a shield and an axe.

“Dream, you’re kind of scaring me right now,” HBombs utters nervously as he eyes the glint in Dreams' eyes. He only usually saw that look on the quidditch pitch - or during manhunts. He shudders as he watches Dream casually slice the air with the axe. The Dream in front of him makes him remember the few times he had gone against him in Manhunt.

_ “Oh, Hbomb! Come here!” He hears the telltale cackle of Dream right behind him and he shrieks, taking a sharp left. _

_ “Go the fuck away Dream!” He shouts, heart pumping. “This isn't fucking fair! Aren’t I supposed to be the Hunter?!” He shouts. _

_ “Not anymore you’re not! Give me your stuff Hbomb!”  _

_ He gets tackled into the ground, and suddenly he’s all the way back to the spawn. He groans.  _

_ “Fuck you, Dream! I lost all my shit, my diamond armour, oh fuckkkk,” He moans sadly.  _

“Good luck H,” Hbomb hears Krinios mutter and he silently prays to Merlin above that he makes it out of here alive.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know I said that this chapter would be the chapter where he did the first trial but things happened and it ended up,,, not being the chapter where he did the first trial:( I also changed a bit from last chapter, just at the end! tysm for reading!


	5. Chapter 5

  
  


“Ow, ow, ow- alright, alright! I surrender Dream! I surrender!” Krinios huffs out from under Dream.

“6-0! You suck Krinios!” Hbomb boos from the sideline slumped next to the wall. 

“Shut up H! You didn’t get any wins either!” Krinios whines out as he watches Dream get off of him with a grin. He stays on the ground, bemoaning his loss of pride. 

“Don’t be a sore loser, Krinios,” Dream says jokingly, ”You did really good, both of you did!” Hbomb leaps to his feet and Krinios sits up. “H, when you’re attacking with your sword, face your hips towards me instead of facing it to the side of me,” He advises Hbomb, who nods seriously. “Krinios, when you’re defending, you have a habit of loosening your grip like this,” He shows Krinios who’s watching him attentively. “So when you’re defending, and a sword’s coming at you, if you can’t twist out of the way - block their sword with yours,” He pauses, thinking something over. “Even if you barely block their attack with yours, the most important thing is that your grip is firm and that you push them, instead of them pushing you,” He tells Krinios who looks at his sword thoughtfully. 

“Yeah, alright, I get that,” Krinios muses out loud. “We should duel more often,” He says to the other, who laughs before agreeing.

Their attention is drawn away from each other when they hear the door creak. A head pops in, and they recognise Fruit’s face. His face brightens as he sees them and he turns behind him, “Bad was right, they’re still here!” 

He enters and he’s not alone. He’s followed by Quig, Jordan, Scott and Wisp. 

“What’s up, guys!” Hbomb Greets them, the other two giving a wave. “Did ya need something?” He asks curiously.

“Ah, well,” Jordan starts sheepishly. “As your prefect from Hufflepuff, I noticed you weren’t there at lunch so I asked Bad and Tubbo, who told me that you’re needing to practice duelling, and well…” He trailed off so Fruit took over.

“One thing led to another and Jordan dragged me, Quig, Scott and Wisp here to help you practice duel. Everyone in this room is in the duelling club too - you would be able to learn more strategies,” Fruit explained. 

“Brilliant! I have an hour of free lessons after lunch, you guys still free?” Dream asked them, gaze, hopeful. The older boys were always nice to him, and not just because he was Dream. More often than not, Jordan would usually be helping him and Tubbo in the common room. Fruit would duel with him whenever he was free and they would always get Wisp in on it. Scott and Quig would help him practice quidditch. 

“I have free as well, but Krinios has to go to potions with Snape,” Hbomb tells him and he grins.

“And speaking of the first trial,” Scott speaks up. “We’ll make this a daily thing, you need all the help you can get,” He says before quickly backtracking. “I-I mean to say that you’re at a huge disadvantage here!” Scott clarified.

“Techno has George, Sapnap, Wilbur and Schlatt, both he and Schlatt are training together with your friends - it seems as if there’s a truce right now until the first trial actually starts,” Jordan explains. “Alyssa is at the top of her school in combat, you’re gonna have trouble going up against her as well,”

Dream sighs, it’s hard to keep the hurt away from his heart when he hears stuff like that. “Alright, well, I have a few others, and I only have so few free lessons that I can use…” he thinks for a moment before lighting up. “How about Mondays, Thursdays, we can duel with this group, lunch and my free lesson on Thursday. Tuesday and Wednesday, I’ll duel with Eret, Fundy and Karl at both lunches and maybe a bit past curfew…?” His voice rises questionably at the end, sending a glance to his Hufflepuff prefect who looks away innocently and starts whistling. He smiles and continues, “I’ll duel with Bad and Skeppy later on. And then on Friday, I’ll practice with Punz, Purpled, Tommy and Tubbo,” He concludes and looks up to see the worry in everyone's eyes. 

“Dream, are you sure you’ll be able to handle that?” Quig asks, worry evident in his tone. 

“Yeah! I mean, it’s fine, it’s only for a week and a half, really,” he shrugs. “I’ll be able to handle it, I’ve dealt with worse before, remember?” He jokes, pointing to himself. “The Boy Who Lived 2.0, right?” 

  
  
  


“Keep your grip firm,” Fruit called from the sidelines as he watched Scott and Dream fight. It was well after lunch now, and he would have to go to Transfiguration after this fight. “Feet shoulder-width apart,”

The fight ends with Scott staring down the tip of Dream’s sword. It would usually be his axe or crossbow, but Quig insisted that he gets better at every other weapon at his disposal.

“Nice job, Dream! But make sure to be light on your feet at all times, otherwise, Scott would’ve just kicked your legs out from under you,” Fruit gives him pointers on how to improve and he listens attentively, muscles burning and his whole body feeling like a dead weight. “You can also use blast spells, either to blast yourself away, blast your opponent away, or blast closer if you’re on the lower ground,”

Dream uttered a quick spell that would clean him up quickly, thanked the group and hurried to Transfiguration. On the way, he ran into Punz so they walked together to the class.

He couldn’t ignore the heavyweight of his heart and body when he walked into Transfiguration.

  
  


**_Later that night, two hours after curfew_ **

“WHAT THE FUCK! BAD HELP ME, HE’S FUCKING CHASING ME!” A shriek echoes throughout the duelling room. 

“Skeppy!” Bad exclaims, turning around to swipe at Dream who jumps back, barely missing getting his stomach cut. “Skeppy, come here!” He calls out to the dark-haired boy.

Bad attacks again from the right as Skeppy moves in from behind, “Now Skeppy!”. Dream quickly turns around and blocks Skeppy’s sword but in the next minute, all he can see is the roof. 

He blinks heavily, “What,” He breathes out before finally concluding that Bad swept his feet underneath him. He groans, “I should’ve seen that coming,” He says. 

“You did great!” Bad encourages him from the left side of him. 

“I could’ve done better,” he says offhandedly as he relaxes on the floor. 

“Don’t be so hard on yourself, you muffin head,” Bad scolds, and Dream quirks a small smile up before it drops.

“Dude, you are like fucking terrifying,” Skeppy huffs out. “I genuinely thought I was about to die to you and that my last image was gonna be you holding an axe with that murderous glint in your eye,” Dreams huffs out a laugh at that.

“Anyways, it’s almost 1 am, and you have Divination first off,” Bad starts, pulling him up. “Let’s go back to the dorm,” he says.

“Sorry for keeping you guys up,” he apologises, frowning. 

“It’s no worries! Both Skeppy and I have a free lesson tomorrow anyways!” Bad exclaims cheerfully as he casts a cleaning spell on all three of them. “Anyways, let’s go back now so you at least have 5 hours of sleep at least, Bye Skeppy!” He waves to Skeppy as he and Dream walk back to school.

  
  


He doesn’t have the heart to tell Bad that he spends most nights under his covers, reading more about spells.

Days pass and he gains more bruises and scratches on his skin. He gains more experience, more skill. He gains more knowledge. 

He gets more and more sleep-deprived and malnourished.

That’s fine.

He just casts a glamour on himself to stop the concerned looks and the worrying questions. It covers up his pale skin, dark eye bags. Covers up his weight loss and the bruises and scratches. People can’t worry about what they can’t see.

He eats a bit every few days, food just isn’t appetising to him. Bad feeds him fruit but he mostly lies and says he ate before them.

The one constant is his coffee. And, because of the coffee, another constant is his hands constantly shaking.

  
  


He shifts on his bed, the day before the first trial. He muffles a groan as he accidentally aggravates a bruise on the left side of his ribs. That was from when Tommy kicked him hard yesterday. It had been Tuesday yesterday but Eret, Fundy and Karl hadn’t been available so Tommy volunteered himself, Purpled and Tubbo. 

The three had been merciless, consistently attacking him from every direction. They had gone all out, using shields, swords, crossbows, axe’s, even their fists and feet. 

His body ached from the continuous sparring sessions from the past week and a half. After the first trial, he would take the biggest and the fattest nap and pass out on his bed for 36 hours. 

Was it enough though?

It was a question he asked himself a lot, was it enough to make it out of the first trial alive? He knew none of his opponents was above killing. Fuck, he knew Schlatt and Techno would do anything to win, they were too prideful. 

There’s only been radio silence from his other friends but Dream can’t lie and say that the glares, the mutters, the scowls and the whispers from them weren’t getting to him. 

When he finally gets up for the day, he automatically casts a glamour charm. He puts his robes on for the day and brushes his teeth and makes his way to the Great Hall. These days, he spends his breakfasts with Punz, Purpled, Tommy and Tubbo. The four seemed to like the breakfasts as well.

He enters the hall with exhaustion and makes his way over to the four boys. They’re sitting at the Slytherin table again and he sits heavily in between Purpled and Punz. There’s a cup of coffee in front of it and he downs it, ignoring the slight painful burn. 

“Are you ready for tomorrow?” Punz asks him and he groans a no as he leans on his friends’ shoulder. 

“You’ll at least know who you’re fighting tonight!” Tubbo cheers and Dream cracks a smile at the younger boy. 

“Big D’s gonna win this, no doubt about it!” Tommy exclaims, looking too confident.

“Tommy, aren’t you supposed to be cheering on your brother?” Dream asks, chuckling. 

“I guess, but Techno’s been such a bitch lately. He’s all angry and serious and shit,” Tommy scoffs. “He never wants to hang with me, and neither does Wilbur! They’re all too busy and angry,” Tommy pouts. 

“I’m sure they don’t mean to, Tommy,” Dream assures him. The other shrugs and looks away, muttering something. “What?”

“‘They’re also being a dick to you, and I don’t like that,’ he says,” Tubbo pipes in and gets punched by the taller blonde with a cry of his name. 

“You weren’t supposed to tell him!” Tommy cries out, glancing nervously at Dream only to find himself speechless when he sees the tears in the older boy’s eyes.

Tommy nods at him hesitantly and beams when he’s pulled into a hug. Tubbo cheers and joins in the hug, Purpled getting pulled in. Punz awww’s before hugging them all, they all laugh before pulling away. 

That day is like every other day, he sits through his lessons, his mind constantly distracted. At least he didn’t have potions today - Snape seemed extra harsh the past week. The only difference today is that he didn’t go duel on either of his free lessons or skip lunch for it. Bad had made him promise that he wouldn’t do anything that would physically exhaust him.

So he sat at the hall for once and sullenly ate his porridge. It was the only thing his stomach could stomach right now, and his friends looked so concerned that he had to. Even if it tasted like nothing in his mouth.

He almost fell asleep too, his head bobbing up and down constantly as he fought to keep his eyelids open. 

Thankfully, he got to have a small nap in Transfiguration. He was sat at the very back of the class and had a nap for the whole hour. He guessed that McGonagall could see past the glamour.

_ (His body burned. _

_ It was as if someone was cooking him from the inside out, slowly. He writhed on the floor, scratching at his body. _

_ His mouth opened to release a scream, yet nothing came out.  _

_ The heat seeped out of his body, leaving him limp and boneless on the floor. But as it seeped out, something else entered.  _

_ He screamed in pain, he couldn’t hear it but he just knew he screamed in pain. The foreign intrusion was unwelcome. His magic cried out, lashing out from inside out. _

_ His magic was crying out for help and he couldn’t do anything but groan and cry, the tears coming easily though the pain. He heard footsteps coming towards him and he shifted his eye towards the left.  _

_ “What a poor little boy, all alone,” The woman’s finger came to touch his cheek. _

_ Searing pain burst throughout his body, starting from his cheek and spreading through his body. _

_ The woman smiled, slow and sadistically. _

_ “You’re all mine now.”) _

He didn’t wake up in a blind panic this time. Instead, he wakes up slowly, blood racing and heart pumping frantically. His fingers are shaking under the desk and he clenches and unclenches them, willing the shaking to stop

He doesn’t tell anyone.

  
  
  


That night at dinner, he can’t stop shifting or shaking. Bad is on one side of him, a comforting arm around him. Tubbo’s next to him, Purpled, Punz and Tommy in front of him. 

He keeps shifting his eyes to the front and it feels like hours until McGonagall came to the front once again with another goblet. Dream eyed it with distaste before he felt a nudge from Bad.

“Stop glaring at a cup,” He whispered to him and Dream pouted petulantly. 

“In this goblet are the four names of the champions, it will spit out two names, and those two champions will be against each other. The two names that had not been picked will go against each other,” The Headmistress explained. “However, before we go on, I will explain the rules of the trial. You can use magic spells, however, besides that, you can only use a shield and one weapon of your choice. You will find the weapons that you can use tomorrow,” 

_ The axe does the most damage,  _ he thinks, worrying his bottom lip in between his teeth. 

“Now, all spells are allowed except for Sectumsempra and Avada Kedavra,” She clears her throat. “Due to the recent law changes, the curse, Cruciatus is allowed. However, be prepared to suffer the consequences of it, if your Headmaster or Headmistress does not approve of the spell being used. Hogwarts is one of the schools that do not accept the use of the curse,” McGonagall finished before rising the goblet up. “It’s now time for the name picking,”

The goblet looks like its thrashing around, moving this way and that until two names spit themselves out. 

“Jschlatt and Alyssa,” McGonagall calls out and Dream pales. He can hear the gasps of the Hogwarts students around him, the realisation dawning on everyone.

He raises his head to look across at Technoblade, surrounded by Wilbur, George and Sapnap. 

Red ruby eyes stare at him with no emotion.

_ I’m gonna win,  _ his eyes say. 

“Dream and Technoblade are the second pair to duel,”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> CHAPTER 5!! WOOOO!
> 
> In honour of Sapnaps 1 mil on twitch, Dream's 14 mil and Wilbur's new song! 
> 
> Also, don't forget to sign petitions on BLM and the death penalty of the US. 
> 
> https://blmsites.carrd.co/
> 
> don't forget to comment! I love reading them!!!


	6. Chapter 6

  
  


Hours before the trial, in the wee hours of the morning, Purpled finds Dream in the hall, face pale and shaky breaths.

“Dream?” The other’s head snaps up, and Purpled frowned at the look in his brother’s eyes. “You okay?” He asks, settling next to him. 

Dream shakes his head no, his hands automatically seeking comfort. Purpled catches his hands in his, squeezing it in comfort. For as long as he knew Dream, his love languages were always physical touch and words of affirmation. He took comfort in hugs and physical affection, even just hand-holding would calm him down. Purpled would guess that that was why he was so dependent on Dream for affection. 

He could still remember the first day he met Dream - when he was still a first-year, short and naive. He had been grouped with this loud blonde Gryffindor and a kind brown-haired Hufflepuff. They had gotten along instantly, and he had found out that their names were Tommy and Tubbo.

As soon as it hit lunch, the two boys dragged him to the hall and introduced to Dream and his friends. And he immediately got welcomed into the group. Dream made him welcome, and Purpled remembers going to the older boy whenever he was in the Slytherin dorm. Even then, he would often end up visiting the Gryffindor dorm or the Hufflepuff dorm to hang out with Tommy and/or Tubbo and find Dream there. 

The older boy had always been there for the other and had provided hugs and affection even when Purpled insisted he didn’t need it, often greeting him with hugs.

“Dream?”

Dream looked at him, gripping tighter onto his hand. 

“Purpled,” he started and Purpled’s heart catches at the shakiness in his voice. “I’m going against Techno fucking blade,” He finished. “I’m gonna fucking die,” He looks ready to cry, and Purpled’s heart hurts at that sight. 

Dream had always been one of the strong figures in his life, always determined yet kind, so full of accomplishments yet humble. He could take down a prideful 7th year in just less than 2 minutes and  _ Merlin, _ have you seen him during manhunts? He was unreal. 

So seeing him like this, vulnerable and scared and weak was new and it unnerved him. 

“Dream, listen,” he starts. “All you need to do is survive an hour, and you’ll end in a tie,” Dream’s eyes’ widen as if he hadn’t thought of that. He probably didn’t. “You are an idiot,” Purpled deadpans but doesn’t let go of Dream’s hand.

The older boy groans in embarrassment, “Shut up, I finally got to sleep last night but I woke up at like 3 am this morning, and I woke up all nervous and crap,” 

Purpled laughs, “Don’t worry, you’ll destroy it! I’ll be cheering you on, all you need is Purpled,” Dream scoffs and shoves his head, an offended gasp coming out of Purpled.

“You’re so full of shit,” Dream laughs and Purpled relishes in the comfortable atmosphere surrounding them.

He knows it won’t last for long.

  
  
  


Dream stares at his hands as he half-heartedly listens into the fight. 

He hears Alyssa shriek and he looks up just in time as she ducks behind a rock of the arena. Schlatt trails behind her, and Dream frowns, Alyssa’s gonna lose. She has a deep wound on her side and she’s too pale, her legs are wobbling and he can see her breathing heavily. She struggles to her feet as Schlatt rounds the rock. Before she can even fumble her wand out, Schlatt stupefies her and it’s his win. 

Alyssa gets carried out as Schlatt walks out and into the medical tent. 

Dream gulps and stands. Suddenly he’s hyper-aware of the way the uniform he was forced into clings onto him. It’s a simple black outfit, fitted pants that he could run in and a black shirt that showcased his name on the back. 

He took a deep breath as he steadied his shield on his left hand and the axe on his right, his wand in his belt. Closing his eyes, he focused on the crowd cheering. 

“The second and final duel, Technoblade and Dream, will start in one minute,”

He opens his eyes to reveal fierce green eyes. 

“30 seconds,”

_ Dream walked to his tent, steps heavy.  _

_ “Big D!” he hears from behind him and he turns to see his friends rushing over to him. _

_ Tommy crashes into him hard and Tubbo follows.  _

_ “You left early!” Tubbo accuses as he stares at the blonde. Dream smiles sheepishly as he ruffles the two boys’ hair and looks up to everyone else, recognising the worry in their eyes immediately. _

_ “I’m sorry, I was too nervous to say bye,” He laughed and Bad let out a small, tortured sound before he threw himself at Dream.  _

_ “You’ll do great!” Fundy encourages, smiling softly as he smiles at Dream, Eret nodding beside him. _

_ Dream meets Karls’ eyes and is startled when he sees the tears swimming in there. Karls’ bottom lip wobbles and Dream prepares himself for the inevitable.  _

_ Instead, he’s surprised when Karl wipes his tears and holds out his pinky. _

_ “Promise that you’ll make it out alive,” _

_ “Karl-” _

_ “Please,” it’s the shakiness in Karl’s voice that does it for him and he wraps his pinky finger around Karls’ and they share a pain-filled smile.  _

_ No words are exchanged between him and Punz, his childhood friend just nodding to him. _

He steps out as the gates open and the time starts. He immediately puts his shield in response to the Technoblade’s sword crashing down. The force of it almost forces him to his knees but he leaps back instead. He takes a deep breath before rushing forward swinging his axe forward, Technoblade blocking it. 

His axe sticks into Technoblade’s shield and he uses the momentum to pull the pink-haired man forward and kick the back of his knees. The other crumbles to the ground with a grunt.

“Expelliarmus!” Techno cries as he points his wand to Dream’s axe. It goes flying and Dream turns back to Techno only to cry out in surprise as Techno almost rips his head from his body. He runs back several paces and watches nervously as Techno stalks towards him.

“Accio, axe!” He gasps out and feels a small bit of confidence as his axe flies into his hand. Techno’s running towards him now and it takes him a few moments to slide to his left, his mind catching up eventually. Albeit slowly, he switched to his wand as the other recovered. “Aqua Eructo!” A large body of water comes out of his wand and it sends Techno flying to the other side of the stadium. 

Techno gets up with a snarl and points his wand at him, “Carpe Retractum,” A tendril of light comes forth and wraps themselves around Dream’s waist. It pulls him towards Techno, so fast that he could barely think before his head was getting slammed into the ground. Black spots dance in his vision and he slams his eyes shut as he curls into a fetal position. He clutches his head with a whimper and wills his head to stop pounding as a shadow looms over him. He stands up, swaying and he fumbles for his wand.

“Confrigo!” Techno’s quick, yet merciless and Dream is reminded at that moment how the sorting hat was torn between Ravenclaw and Slytherin for his friend. He slams into the arena wall as fire engulfs him. He can hear a scream tear itself from his throat and he crumples to the ground. He has half a mind to clumsily get his wand out and utter a quick ‘Colloshoo,’ and watches as Techno’s shoes get stuck to the ground. He utters a quick healing spell for him and gives himself a quick stamina spell. His mind is frighteningly dazed, his poor brain working overdrive yet not having the energy to be a 100%. 

Techno gets himself unstuck pretty soon and they’re stuck in a push and pull battle, where one attacks, the other defends and it goes on like that for what seems like hours. His hits are less accurate, less powerful and he can feel his arms feel more and more like jelly. 

The timer is down to 15 minutes when he glances at it next.

He’s on the defence and he can see his opponent getting frustrated. His swings get rougher and more powerful, and Dream’s getting weaker by each hit. 

He’s felt so comfortable with this little tango of theirs that he’s completely caught off guard when he hears Technoblade shout out a spell,

“D olor Ubique!”

And all of a sudden he’s crying out in pain, his body dropping to the ground almost instantly. Searing hot pain flows through his body, not sparing any mercy towards him. The rock underneath him cuts into his back and his fist is clenched, his eyes are screwed shut and his jaw hurts from how hard he’s clenching it. 

“Stop,” he chokes out, his mind going a mile a minute to try and figure out a spell that’ll stop this torture. Techno stares at him, all blank eyes and a calm face. Dream knows him though, knows his favourite foods and his favourite spells and knows how to pick apart his expressions which is why he can make out the slightest hint of regret in his eyes. “Techno- Techno, please,” He begs, a choked sound coming out of his mouth a second after. “It hurts Tech,  _ please,” _ He pleads, the old nickname slipping out but Techno doesn’t move an inch. 

Tears start slipping out as the pain grows even more ( _ “You’re all mine now, little boy,”) _

_ please please please it hurts please techno please stop you’re hurting me we’re friends right please don’t do this she’s coming for me she’s gonna hurt me don’t do this please i trust you please it hurts i’m in pain she’s gonna kill me technoblade please let’s make it into a tie please there’s 5 more minutes i can’t take it technoblade please techNOBLADE SHE’S GONNA KILL ME friends don’t do this to each other i thought we were friends why are you doing this- _

A spell comes to his mind suddenly and he struggles to get his wand. Everything hurts when he mo ves, a cruel action when he’s writing on the ground. There’s a spell, a spell that cancels out all other spells-

“ _ Finite Incantatem!”  _ He cries out and in the next second, there is no excruciating pain. Only an ache of exhaustion and lingering pain. He gasps weakly as he stands and he heaves and pants, and he wants to cry all over again because  _ it hurts _ . 

It’s only after he gets his bearings back does he notice the deathly silence around him. The audience is stock still, and he can make out his friends’ face - filled with concern and anger. Techno’s not moving either, standing still with wide eyes. 

“What?” He asks in a croak, his throat sore from all the screaming he did. 

“Dream-” Techno starts, moving towards him. “You’re- How did the bruises get there? What-What happened to you?” The other man reaches a hand up, maybe to touch his face or a bruise or maybe he’s about to cast another spell. Dream will never know because he flinches away from the hand.

“Please- please don’t hurt me again,” He gasps out, and something akin to pain and regret flashes through Techno’s face. 

“I-I wouldn’t-”

“But you did,” Dream whispers out, heart-wrenching sadness laced into his voice. He glances down, and oh.

When he cast the spell to cancel out the pain spell that Techno had cast upon him, he forgot that it would cancel all other spells. 

Including his glamour. 

His arms are full of bruises and he feels the ache of the bruises all over his body. Without a doubt, everyone can see his sunken cheeks and dark bags now. 

“It’s- this is nothing, don’t worry about it,” He says, avoiding Techno’s eyes. He sees the older boy step towards him and before he knows it, he’s scrambling backwards.

“Please don’t,” He says to Techno, the other standing several paces in front of him, shock evident in his eyes. “Please don’t uh- don’t touch me please,” He asks. 

His head snaps up as the timer goes off, “The duel has ended in a tie!” McGonagall announces as the crowd goes into an uproar.

He scrambles out the arena, well aware of the blood-red eyes that follow him out. He’s in his tent as the rankings are announced.

He places second with Technoblade, Schlatt gets first and Alyssa gets third.

Purpled is the first to burst in, Tommy and Tubbo right behind him. Punz follows behind them, panic in his eyes. 

Punz slams into him, arms wrapping around and he accepts it, he melts into the warmth of the hug. He clutches onto Punz like a lifeline, shoving his face into the section between Punz’s shoulder and neck.

“I managed to convince the others to give you a bit of space and only let us come to you for now,” Punx murmurs to him before pulling back.

He misses the comfort already.

“Shit, Dream, are you all right?” Purpled asks, frantically and Dream can see the panic that he’s caused. “What happened to you? Why do you have all those bruises and you look tired as all fuck-”

“When I cast the final spell,” he says slowly, sitting down on a chair, lest his legs give out on him. “It also cancelled out the glamour I cast on myself,”

“You cast...a fucking glamour on yourself?” Tommy asks, slowly and disbelieving. “Why?”

He shrugged, “I knew I looked like shit, I hadn’t been sleeping, I hadn’t had much of an appetite either, coupled with all the bruises I got from the duels… I didn’t want anyone to get worried about me any more than they already were,” He explains shamefully. 

“But now we’re even more worried about you,” Tubbo says softly, looking to be on the verge of tears. Dream feels his heart physically ache at the sight and gathers him in his arms, beckoning the others to join in the hug. 

“We were so worried for you,” Purpled mutters after they eventually pull back and sit down in the chairs in his tent. “I mean- wait-  _ they _ were worried for you actually,” He stammers. “I was very confident and not worried for you because you had Purpled on your side!” He backtracked.

“Don’t even listen to him, Big D,” Tommy rolls his eyes amidst Tubbo scoffing. “He was all nervous and shit and kept asking us, ‘Do you think Dream will be okay?’ or ‘Stupid Technoblade, what a dick,’ even the ‘I’m so worried for him, he doesn’t look too good,’” Tommy mocks, pitching his voice as high as he can. 

Purpled shoves him, beet red, vehemently denying it as Tommy and Tubbo make turns mocking him.

“Seriously though, how are you? How are you holding up?” Punz questions him. He sighs, tired and exhausted and aching. 

“I’m tired,” He says, feeling tears come to his eyes. “Luke, I’m so tired, and everything hurts,” He whimpers out and Punz frowns at the use of his first name. Dream usually never called him by his real name, only using it when the younger was emotional and needed support. “Techno cast a spell, and it-it brought pain, like hot pain, but it was in my body,” Dream explained. “And no matter how much I begged him to stop, he-he wouldn’t - he just stared at me while I suffered and I pleaded with him,” Dream’s breath hitched and Punz gathered the other in his arms as the other boy let a shaky breath. The three younger boys watched on with varying degrees off sadness and anger. 

Punz could feel white-hot burning anger in him at Technoblade. He and the other boy were never particularly close, always just civil so it wouldn’t be much of a loss if he punched the older boy in the face.

“Let’s get you fixed up, yeah?” At Dream’s nod, Punz casts a spell that bandages all of his wounds. Eventually, Dream falls asleep and Punz deposits him in the bed of the corner of the tent. He sat with the other boys as they talked in hushed whispers. 

“Tommy?”

“Tubbo?”

Two very different voices sounded at the entrance of the tent. As they looked up, their faces blanched as they took in the sight of Technoblade, Wilbur, Sapnap and George. 

“What the fuck? Why does everyone always forget about me?” Purpled complains and whines when he gets whacked by Punz who shushes him.

“Hello, what is up?” Tommy asks, all monotone and formal.

“What-what are you doing here?” Wilbur asks, surprise colouring his voice as his eyebrows furrow, venturing deeper into the tent. 

“Well, you see Wilbur, my dear friend Dream, well, he got beat up by Techno here,” Tommy gestures to the pink-haired man who winces. “And so we came to his tent to comfort him, seeing as he had no one else as his other friends ditched him.” Punz can see a collective wince pass through the group as they all look to the ground, at least a little bit ashamed.

_ Good,  _ Punz things, with smug satisfaction. 

“Would you happen to know those friends of his that ditched him?” Purpled asks, standing next to Tommy. His purple eyes pierce through George and Sapnap who shifts and looks away.

“I reckon they know who they are,” Tubbo finishes as he stands on the other side of Tommy.

“Alright, that’s-that’s enough, we get it,” Sapnap mumbled.

“Is it though? Because as far as I know,  _ we  _ were the ones that stood by his side as he was chosen to go through a fucking death tournament, in which he didn’t even want to participate in, for your information,” Punz glares, meeting their eyes head-on.

“From my memories,  _ we  _ were the ones that had to watch as Dream picked himself apart, every duel, he would pick himself apart, being so cruel on himself, not giving himself any mercy,” Tommy crosses his arm, his lips pulled into a nasty snarl.

“You guys weren’t there, we had to seem him do that to himself.  _ We _ get to be angry on his behalf and yell at you because we know too damn well that Dream won’t,” Tubbo spat, protective of his older brother figure.

“You guys fucked up and we didn’t- we don’t have to fix your mess,” Purpled states.

All of a sudden, they hear rustling in the corner of the tent, and then a groan. A blonde head pops up, and a body follows along with it. 

“What the fuck? Why are you so fucking loud?” Dream mumbles, staring at the group who looks they’re about to start fighting at any moment. “Is this a fucking dream?” He pauses and laughs, albeit sleepily. “Get it? Because my names Dream? ...no?” He falters as no one seems to laugh at his joke.

“Big D you need more sleep,” Tommy declares as he makes his way next to him, punching his shoulder and rolling his eyes at the yelp that follows. “And you need to eat more too, what the fuck, how skinny are you?” Tommy snorts.

“Fuck you, Tommy,” 

“I am a Minor.”

“No, but seriously, is this a dream?” He asks as he gestures to the group still standing. “Because I’m very tired of having these types of dream’s where they’re my friends again and then I wake up,” He sounds exhausted, tired.

“Dream, this isn’t- you aren’t dreaming, I promise,” George says, voice pained as he makes his way to Dream. Punz doesn’t make a move to stop him, nor do the others as they watch the group slowly migrate to a sleep-deprived Dream.

“I don’t believe you, that’s what dream George always says,” Dream deadpans as he sits up fully, twisting his body to face them.

Tommy punches him again and he yelps, shoving Tommy away with a pained look on his face. 

“Tommy, what the fuck,” He almost shouts as he kicks at the younger boy. 

“Now you know it’s not a dream!” Tommy defends as Dream comes to the same realization, his face paling as he faces the group again.

“Are you here to yell at me?” He questions weakly. 

“What- Dream, no!” Sapnap says fiercely. “I- we came here to apologise,”

“What.”

“We came to apologise, Dream,” Wilbur steps up, face all regretful and tortured. “What we did was unprecedented and it wasn’t mature of us, especially when we knew that you didn’t even want to be in the tournament,”

“So why’d you do it?” Dream prods, hesitantly as if scared of the answer.

“We,” George speaks up a from next to Technoblade. “We were jealous,” He admits, ashamed as he looks down. 

“Jealous. Are you fucking kidding me,”

“In my defence, I was just angry that you competed,” Technoblade butts in.

“Technoblade, you tortured me.” He deadpans, anger rising from inside him. “What the fuck was that,”

“I panicked! You were winning and I just learned about the spell!” Technoblade defends weakly.

“I begged you to fucking stop!” Dream explodes, finally standing and looking them all dead in the eye. “I pleaded with you, I begged and begged, I told you to stop. What did you do? You didn’t fucking stop!” He throws his hands in the air as Techno’s face crumbles with guilt. “And you three!” He rounds on the other three, anger evident on his face. “You haven’t talked to me ever since it was announced that I was going participating! You’ve ignored me, you’ve glared at me, scoffed at me, and don’t think I haven’t heard you whispering behind my back either!” He snarls.

“Dream, please,” George begs. “We regret everything we’ve done, and we’ll do anything for you to forgive us,”

“When we saw you in the arena after your glamour dropped, our hearts stopped,” Sapnap said, eyes on the ground and Dream can see a hint of tears. “I was so worried about you, and I was so fucking angry at Techno, we yelled at him by the way, but we- we’re so sorry Dream,” His voice breaks at the end and against his better wishes, Dream feels tears spring up to his eyes as well.

“Dream,” Wilbur starts and Dream’s eyes snap to his. “What we’ve done is going to take a lot of time for you to forgive and we understand it, we’ll just do anything for you to forgive us,” Wilbur finishes.

“I’m sorry,” Technoblade mumbles as he stares into Dream’s eyes.

And Dream…

Dream breaks because he’s always had a soft spot for his friends after all.

He bursts out crying and squats down, his face all red and full of tears. He hears panicked voices above him, including those of Punz, Tommy, Tubbo and Purpled. 

“You guys are such dicks, did you know that?” He hiccups as he stares up at them. “I fucking hate you guys,” Their faces fall and Dream continues before they probably burst out crying. “I hate that I have such a soft spot for you guys, fuck,”

There’s silence before he’s pulled into a group hug, smothered by Sapnap. He buries his head in Wilbur’s chest and finally lets all his tears out.

“You left me,”

“I know, I know, we’re sorry,”

“I love Punz and purpled and Tommy and Tubbo more than you guys now,”

“Not Tommy, anyone but Tommy, please Dream,”

He half giggles, half hiccups as he pulls away and he sees the others standing around. Tommy and Purpled have frowns on their faces, clearly not satisfied with his decision to forgive them. Punz shrugs and grins at him as they lock eyes and Tubbo smiles at him.

“We’ll make it up to you, I promise Dream,” Techno states, a surprising statement from the normally stoic boy. He raises his hand, maybe to give him a thumbs up or maybe to give him a hug, but Dream flinches away from him, the events of the first trial still fresh on his mind. “Oh-uh sorry,” 

“It’s- It’s okay,” He replies shakily as he moves next to Tubbo who holds his hand. “Just- try not to touch me for a bit, please?” Techno nods, eyes filled with guilt that Dream wishes he could get rid of.

“Can we get back to the dorms? Please?” He asks to no one in particular but Punz is already nodding, grabbing his hand and pulling him to the direction of the castle. He squeezes his hand in comfort and they share a smile as everyone chatters behind them.

Later that night, Dream falls asleep almost immediately in the Hufflepuff dorm. 

He dreams of smiles and laughter and late-night talks with cuddles.

He’s at peace for now.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hello! this one took a while for me, but I don't really have much else to do since I'm on holidays until late January so:) anyways! this one's actually quite a doozy, it's 4.1k words so sorry if it's too long:( In the next chapter I'm gonna be introducing two-three new characters who're transferring to Hogwarts! Any guesses? I'll say that they're very good friends of Dream.
> 
> We also hit 200 kudos!!! that's insane, ty so much!!!
> 
> comments your thoughts on this chapter and what you think will happen next chapter!!! I love reading them!!!
> 
> btw, dolor ubique= pain everywhere, I got it off google translate lol


	7. Chapter 7

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Dream gets confronted with the fact that maybe, not everyone forgave the others. And that's okay.

  
  


The tension could be felt the next morning. Dream sat in between Punz and Sapnap, in the middle of two different sides of the table. On his left side, there was Punz, Purpled, Tommy and Tubbo. On his right side were Technoblade, Sapnap, Wilbur and George. 

Dream shifted uncomfortably at the tension between the two groups. Punz noticed from next to him as he half-listened to Purpled rant about Taylor Swift again. He nudged Dream from the side and stifled a giggle as he watched as the blonde yelped and turn to him with a glare. 

“What the hell?” Dream asked, fake anger in his voice even as he leans on him. Ever since the trial, Dream had been even more affectionate with him, not that he was complaining. Dream and he had always been an affectionate duo with each other, just like Sapnap and Dream. 

When they were kids, it had always been a routine to stick with Dream or keep an eye out for the younger boy. The boy had been tiny when they were younger, always easy to cry and always affectionate and looking for hugs or hand holdings. 

Punz had always been protective of the younger boy, especially when the younger would be so easy to gain bruises. 

“Have you eaten yet?” Punz asked him, eyeing the empty space in front of the other boy on the table. Dream blanched and looked around nervously. Punz sighed fondly, “I’ll get you some, what do you want?” He asked as he stood before a hand shot out to stop him.

“It’s okay, Punz, I can get him his breakfast,” Sapnap said, smiling thinly as he also stood.

“No offence, Sapnap,” Punz spat out the name with thinly veiled disgust as Dream looked nervously between them. “I can do it, I’ve been taking care of him for the past week anyway,” he could barely hide the smirk on his face when he saw Sapnap wince.

They stood, in a tense staredown before Dream rolled his eyes and hit them both atop their heads.

“Ow! Dream?!”

“Dream, what the hell?”

“You two are such idiots, I’ll go get myself breakfast,” he huffed, standing up himself to get himself and the whole table watched Sapnap and Punz glare at each other.

“What the fuck is your problem?” Sapnap hissed, fists clenching as his eyes narrowed.

“My  _ problem _ , is that you think, after hurting Dream so fucking much, you guys just think that you can come back in his life, as if nothing happened? Fuck you if you actually think that your choices had no consequences,” He spat. “Dream may have a soft spot when it comes to all of you, but I don’t,” He says with an air of finality and sits down. Sapnap gapes at him with his mouth open, staring as Tommy congratulates Punz.

Dream pretends not to notice the tension he comes back to.

  
  
  


It’s fucking freezing and Dream groans as he follows behind Tommy. 

He had just wanted to study for his Muggle studies class today, but Tommy dragged him out to Hogsmeade. 

“Big D, I have no one else to go with! Purpled and Tubbo said they’re studying today, and everyone else is busy!” The younger boy complained before pulling out the big card, “Please?” 

Dream had groaned and picked himself up and followed the other out the dorms. 

They’ve already bought everything Tommy wanted to buy, and Dream had complained every step of the way, naturally.

They’re walking back to Hogwarts now, the both of them munching on the lollies the Tommy got. 

“I had a fight with Wilbur and Techno the other day, you know,” Tommy says out of the blue, avoiding his eyes. Dream startles and feels incredibly guilty - he was the one making them fight.

The three brothers were incredibly close and he made them fight.

“Tommy, I’m so sorry-”

“What are you apologising for?” Tommy questions, eyes unnaturally serious that it scares Dream. Just a little bit. 

“I-I’m the reason you’re fighting right?” Dream asks, taking another lolly out the bag.

Tommy hums as they near Hogwarts. “Not really true,” he says and continues on before Dream can express his confusion. “They kept asking me to update them about you, as if I would, what stupid dickheads, am I right?” Tommy scoffs, crossing his arms. 

They’re silent for the few moments it takes for them to reach the building.

“You know, you have too soft a heart,” Tommy tells him and he can’t help but chuckle.

“Don’t I know it, nearly everyone’s told me off for it,” he says to the boy, a smirk on his face.

“Thankfully for you, I am the biggest man and I am the best,” Tommy boasts, puffing up his chest. “You’re too soft, Big D, which is why I got into a fight with them,” At Dream’s confused look, he starts explaining. “They ditched you and got away with it, no consequences whatsoever, and while you’ve let them off, doesn’t mean the rest of us are, you know?” Tommy asked rhetorically before continuing, not paying any heed to Dream, who looked like he was about to say something. 

“Obviously, your choice is your choice, and we’ll all respect that and all that shit but, and I don’t really know about the others, but I’m personally really fucking angry at Wil and Techno. Like really, we’ve known you all our lives! What stupid bitches,” He huffs. 

“Tommy- I-” It’s stupid but Dream had always been emotional, had always had a soft heart. He basically watched Tommy grow up, and really, he’s not ashamed to admit that there are tears in his eyes.”Thank you, really, I appreciate it,” He thanks, eyes earnest.

“Really, it’s no big deal. They have to work at least a little bit for them not to become social pariahs,” Tommy defends and they stop at the front of Slytherin’s dorm. “You gonna come in? I have to drop these off for Purpled, stupid bitch made me get him lollies,” 

Before Dream can answer, a blur comes hurtling towards them from the hallway they just came through, a scream of, “DID YOU GET ME LOLLIES?” is all he hears before Tommy goes down with a scream.

“What the fuck- Purpled?! I thought you were studying with Tubbo-”

“DID. YOU. GET. ME. THE. LOLLIES. I. ASKED. FOR.” Purpled enunciates as he shakes Tommy back and forth. The image is hilarious and Dream has to stop himself from falling with how hard he’s laughing. 

The two boys stare at him, “He’s gone crazy,” Purpled says solemnly, Tommy nodding beside him.

“Wait- get the fuck off me, you dickhead,” Tommy shoves the other boy off of him, a small ‘oof’ coming from Purpled. Dream finally stops laughing and helps the two boys off the ground. “Aw fuck, I hate you so much, here are your shitty lollies,” Tommy shoved a bag towards the purple-eyed boy. “I’m gonna go meet Tubbo,” He bid them goodbye, punching Purpled in the shoulder before leaving and giving a nod to Dream. 

“So- Dream,” Purpled starts, turning around to the blonde. He hums in response, “Reckon you could help me with Herbology homework?”

“I mean, what do I get out of it?” Dream questions, even as he says the password to the dorm and enters. 

“My admiration,” Purpled deadpans as Dream rolls his eyes. 

“I already have it,” He teases back and watches as Purpled sputters.

“What- No! No, you don’t! Who told you that? They’ve obviously been lying to you! Was it Eighty? Or Sammy?” He defended and made a noise when Dream ruffled his hair.

  
  
  


An hour later, they were still in the Slytherin common room, Purpled bemoaning at his lack of understanding of Herbology.

“I just- I hate Herbology so much,” Purpled groans, slumping onto the table. “I don’t get how Astelic understands it!” 

Dream watches the younger complain before sighing and pulling the other up. “Come on, let’s take a break,”

They walk around the grounds and eventually sit below a large oak tree. Purpled eventually ends up laying his head in Dream’s lap, complaining about his classes.

“-and I got into trouble because Eighty couldn’t even let me copy his homework! The audacity! I’ve let him copy  _ my  _ homework, what a dick, am I right?” Dream chuckles as he listens, letting his eyes trail over the landscape.

He had met Purpled’s friends a few times already, always being met with nervous smiles. He had only met half of Purpled’s group - that was Astelic, the one that was good at Herbology, Sammy, the one from Australia, Eighty, the golden boy of their year. 

Of course, Tommy would disagree about the Golden boy part, but they had all seemed pretty nice. 

A familiar figure catches his eyes, ebony hair familiar amongst the Gryffindor robes. 

“Sapnap!” He calls out, ignoring the way Purpled tenses. “Be nice,” he warns the younger and being answered with a scoff and a roll of eyes.

“Hey Dream!” Sapnap greets, settling on sitting in front of the blonde. “Uh...Hey, Purpled,” He hesitantly greets the younger, disturbed by the intensity of the glare that was directed at him. He looked at Dream questioning my, disheartened when he was met with a shake of his head. 

“So what’s up, Sap?” Dream asked as he threaded his fingers through Purpled’s hair.

“I was just going for a walk before I was gonna go fly around on my broom, maybe get some people to play a game of Quidditch. It’s been too long since we all played… Wanna play?” Sapnap offers hopefully, a half-smile on his face.

Dream brightens considerably, “Oh, of course, I would lo-” He’s interrupted before he can even finish his sentence. 

“Sorry, Dream said he would help me with my homework,” Purpled interrupts coldly, his eyes challenging Sapnap to say otherwise. He ignores the surprised look Dream sends him, and continues staring at Sapnap.

“Ah- Okay, that’s fine,” Sapnap says, forcing a smile. “Maybe-maybe next time?”

“Uh- Yeah, yeah of course,” Dream assures him, watching as Sapnap stands up, waving goodbye as he walks away.

“Good riddance,” He hears Purpled mutter and sighs, hitting the younger over the head.

“I’m very disappointed in you,” he frowns at the other, frown deepening when the other looks away. “I’m serious, that wasn’t necessary!”

“I couldn’t help it,” Purpled complains, sitting up. “I get so angry when I see his face, I don’t even know! I don’t get how you forgave them so easily!”   
  


“They’re family, Purp,” Dream says softly, finally understanding why Purpled had been so passive-aggressive. 

“Just because they’re family, doesn’t mean what they did should just be looked over!” Purpled exclaims. “They hurt you, and by hurting you, they hurt  _ me. _ I may have known almost all of them since birth but-” He cut himself off, looking away. 

“You didn’t see yourself, Dream,” Purpled says finally, looking back at the man he considered an older brother. “You were so beat up, you looked exhausted - even with the glamour. We were so worried about you, and you were so so sad whenever you looked at them,” He whispered. “You didn’t see yourself, but everyone else saw, and we were so worried about you,”

Dream gathers the other into his arms, whispering soothing words. No tears came out of the other but his figure still shook in Dream’s arms.

“I’m sorry you had to go through that, I’m so sorry,”

“Don’t apologise, it wasn’t your fault,” Purpled murmurs, clutching onto him. “I’m sorry if I’m a bit angry at them, they just made me feel so angry for you,”

“It’s okay, I understand now,” Dream soothes as he smooths a hand down Purpled’s back. “I won’t do it again, yeah?”

“You promise?”

He hesitates, just a small bit but remembers the pain in Purpled’s voice, the panic in his friends’ action, the misplaced guilt in their eyes.

“Yeah, I promise,”

  
  
  


His brain ached and his hands were sore from the amount of writing done. Even so, he was satisfied with all that he achieved on this Sunday. He had caught up with all his studies, done all his homework and now his brain ached but it was all worth it.

It hadn’t even been his idea, Tubbo had mentioned that he was most likely going to be in the library for half the day, Dream had just offered to keep him company.

They had had some of their friends drop by, dropping off some food and making the two boys have a break. They’re taking a break, the sun setting in one of the windows next to them. 

Tubbo gazes out the window, a faraway look in his eyes. The soft sun beats down upon him, setting a calm atmosphere for both of them as they bask in the warmth. Tubbo lets out a breath, slow and relaxed and Dream notices a smile flit onto his face for a moment.

They feel a strange sense of calm wash over them as the sun slowly starts to set. Most of the time, they don’t get to experience the setting of the sun - usually in dinner or because their dorms were in the basement of the castle. 

Dream gazes at Tubbo with a fond smile on his lips, his little brother grew up to be great. And - yeah, sure Phil probably had a hand in that but Dream likes to think he influenced Tubbo a lot for him to grow up as great of a person as he is. 

He’s snapped out of his thoughts when Tubbo says, “Why aren’t you mad?”

“Huh?” He replies intelligently.

“With-with Sap and George. It’s okay to be mad, you know… I would be mad, what they did were dick moves, I just don’t understand how you forgave them so easily,”

Dream consider this and thinks back to stories told to him about a woman with anger and hate rooted so deeply in her heart that she took it out on two innocent people - leaving an infant behind, leaving her hate still brewing in the world.

“Anger isn’t a good emotion,” he says softly. “It wouldn’t do anyone any good if I stayed angry at them… I can choose to be angry and I can choose to let it go and move on. I just chose the easier option for me,” He mumbles.

Tubbo watches him for a moment, confusion still in his eyes. “Maybe I’ll understand when I’m old like you,” He mutters, smirking for a moment as Dream guffaws in offence.

“I’m not old! What the hell, Tubbo?!” The younger laughs and they laugh together. 

“I don’t understand still, but I respect why you forgave them that easily… Not to say that I’ll forgive them anytime soon, but still,” Tubbo shrugs.

Dream laughs, his chest feeling light. He reaches over to ruffle the younger’s hair. “When did you become so mature huh? Who raised you to be this mature?” He asks rhetorically.

Tubbo gazes at him, “You did,” He says proudly. “I got everything from you, didn’t I? You taught me well,” Tubbo admits, a small smile gracing his features.

Dream hums, a grin on his face. “Hm, I guess I did, huh?” 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I
> 
> am so so sorry for the wait. I've been busy with school (just started last week 

**Author's Note:**

> Hope you enjoyed it! Leave things you would like to see below!


End file.
